


T.N.Roman

by idiedthedayirealizedidied



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underswap, Blood, Cuddling, Possible triggers???, mentioned child abuse, normal child stuff, sleeping, the child has to learn stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-17 18:08:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9336662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idiedthedayirealizedidied/pseuds/idiedthedayirealizedidied
Summary: Thanks Muffet! Now Sans and Papyrus have a babybones to take care of!





	1. Found

Papyrus POV

I was sitting on the couch when my phone rang. Answering it, I was met with the alarmed voice of Muffet.  
_Papyrus?_  
“Yea, Muff. What’s up?”  
_I’m sorry, I usually wouldn’t bother you with this but there’s a kid out in the storm. And they’re lost. And hurt pretty badly._  
“Okay, but shouldn’t you have called the Guard?” Sans came out of the kitchen with a disapproving look. “You’re part of the guard!” Not technically, I’m a sentry. But whatever, if it’ll make bro happy. I sighed. “Alright Muff, where they at?”  
_North side of town, close to the woods._  
“Okay. Talk to you later.” I hung up the phone and blipped to where she said. I started to look for the kid.

This was probably the worst time for a kid to get lost out here. There was a snowstorm going on, and you could barely see 10 feet in front of you. I looked down at the ground as I searched, and eventually came across small half filled in footprints. I started following them.  
I’d been following them for a good 30 minutes when, over the noise of the storm, I heard something that sounded like someone falling down. 

??? POV

It’s cold. Really cold. My bones stopped rattling a while ago, though I didn't understand why because I was still cold. My hands and feet had gone numb, I couldn't feel them when I flexed them or when they pressed through the snow beneath my feet. It was cold, and I was getting tired. My pace slowed slightly.  
How did I get here? I don't remember… and now I was walking in a snowstorm, in an area that had already had snow, so it was getting more. It was cold and the numbness was starting to spread through my bones. My skull was throbbing, and felt even more frozen than the rest of me. I’m tired. My pace slowed a little bit more.  
I’ve slowed down too much, my legs gave out beneath me and I collapsed into the fluffy white snow. I’m tired, I just want to sleep… maybe… that'd be okay… just for a little while. The last thing I saw before drifting out of consciousness was white and orange, accompanied by the soft crunching of snow.

Papyrus POV

I quickly turned and ran towards where the noise had been, and quickly came across a small body in the snow. “Poor little monster…” I murmured under my breath and rolled them over, only to freeze. They were a skeleton, a small skeleton monster, maybe around the age of five or six.  
They were covered in a startling array of scrapes, cuts and bruises, and their elbow and knee joints were damaged. They had a giant crack in their skull that looked like it was only really being held together by spider silk and frozen marrow. Guess that’s how Muffet knew about them being out here, the spider was probably long dead by now. They were really only dressed in a torn green sundress spotted with dried and frozen bone marrow. Their eyelights had been shining for a second before they faded out completely.  
I took off my hoodie and carefully bundled them up in it. Before standing and blipping home. “Hey bro! I’m gonna need some blankets, kid’s chilled to the bone.” He came out of the bathroom drying his head with a towel and groaned. “This is no time for jokes Papy!” I gave a dry laugh. “Yea… I’m not really joking. Kid’s a skeleton.” He stared down at me in shock before quickly disappearing into the other rooms. I sat on the couch and waited, holding the bundle of bones close trying to add some extra warmth to the shivering bundle.  
Sans came downstairs a few minutes later with a pile that contained almost every blanket in the house. I chuckled, “That’s a lot of blankets bro.” He dropped them onto the couch next to me, and I took the kid out of my hoodie and quickly bundled them in about six blankets. I set them in the nest Sans had made before getting up and going to my room to change into warmer/non-snow soaked clothes.  
I came back down and stopped when I saw the look of shock on his face. I looked towards what he was looking at. It was the kid’s soul. A little slightly shriveled white inverted heart with a dim purple glow. It was covered in scars, cracks and little puncture marks. It looked so sad. And to think a little child that couldn’t be more than six, had so much damage done to their soul. I quietly came over as Sans started to heal the little monster through her soul. I started healing them too.  
We healed them as much as we could, making sure that their skull was healed over everything else. It was a large crack, so it wouldn’t close completely, and there was still a sizable crack, but at least the edges were healed and wouldn’t bleed anymore. The other stuff was mostly small and could be cleaned and bandaged. The kid stirred a little and we held our breath, and the kid snuggled further into the blankets. We exhaled as they settled, and I picked the bundle up and sat on the couch with them. Sans climbed up next to me and leaned against me and looked at the child.  
“Where did they come from?” I wondered aloud. He shrugged, “A bad place from the looks of it…” I nodded. He stiffened and looked up at me with tears in his sockets. “Papy… what if they were trying to dust?” I wrapped an arm around him and hugged him. “Then we’ll just have to take care of them.Then they won’t want to dust… ‘cause they’ll be happy.” He hugged me back with a nod before getting up. “I have to work tomorrow so I’m going to go to bed.” I nodded as he went back upstairs and to his room.  
I went to my room with the kid a few minutes later and laid down with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rewritten and updated 7-23-17  
> one chapter down


	2. Creative nonexistent title

I woke up the next morning to the sound of Sans making in breakfast, though he was a lot quieter than usual. I slowly sat up and stretched, careful not to jostle the bundle of blankets that contained the monster child. I got off the bed then picked the bundle up. I left my room and went downstairs to the living room.  
Once there, I set the kid and their blankets down on the couch and went into the kitchen. “Hey bro,” I said. “Whatcha makin’?” Sans looked away from the pan with a smile. “Omelets!” He said, lacking his usual loudness, but still containing his over-the-top enthusiasm. I smiled. “Alright, make sure you don’t get your head scrambled, ok?” I chuckled Sans groaned his annoyance at the pun. “Imma be with the kid, ‘kay? Bring me one of those when you’re done?” I said, peeking my head back into the kitchen that I’d left. Sans nodded. Pulling my head out of the kitchen, I went and sat down next to the blanket nest on the couch.  
Not to long after I sat down, the kid stirred in their nest. I watched them silently.

??? POV 

I woke up surrounded by warmth and fuzzy softness. It was so warm and comfortable, I didn’t want to wake up. My head was sore. In fact, my entire body felt sore. I wiggled in the warm softness, pushing and loosening it so I could move more. Having completed my quest, I relaxed into the warmth. I stiffened again when I heard a voice beyond the wall of softness.  
“Hey bro, I think the kid’s awake.”  
I didn’t hear a response, but it was enough to put me on edge. I felt my eyelights color with my magic. I shouldn’t have trusted this. It was too safe. I flinched when the person beyond the softness spoke again.  
“Hey little skele. You alright in there?” They said. “You can come out if you want. You don’t have to though.” I didn’t answer. Just stayed still. Barely breathed. Maybe if I didn’t do anything, they’d go away.  
It seemed like an eternity. An eternity in which I’d hoped they went away. But they didn’t. “Hey, you hungry? My bro’s making omelets.” I wasn’t going to answer, but my stomach betrayed me. They chuckled. “Alright then, I’ll be back in a second.” The area near my feet shifted and moved like some weight was taken off of it. I made quick work of getting the soft thing off my head and sat up to look around.  
I was on a murky green couch in the middle of a room. A Large black device was on the wall facing me, a stout little table in the space between. The wall behind the couch only had a window with curtains and a door. Next to the device on the wall was a set of stairs leading up to a second floor.

Papyrus POV

I got up and went into the kitchen where Sans was plating the omelets. “Hey bro, you almost done?” I said even though it was obvious. He nodded as he turned around and handed me two plates with omelets. I chuckled as he shooed me from the kitchen to go feed the kid. The blankets had been shifted around into more of a pile on top of the kiddo, with a small hole on the right hand side. I sat down and set one of the plates down on the couch, along with a fork, near the little hole. “There ya go. Careful, it’s hot.” I started eating mine as I saw their small hand reached out and tore a little piece off and retreated back into the pile.  
I smiled at the little lump in the blankets that was the kid. “So, little buddy, you got a name? Or am I just gonna call you kid?” Their hand reached out and grabbed another piece of the omelet, but still gave no response. “Hmm, not a talker then?” I chuckled, “Don’t know why I asked a question when I didn’t expect an answer.” I shrugged. “But whatever. You wanna come out of there?”

???POV

I grabbed another piece of the fluffy yellow stuff with spots of green and purple as they asked if I wanted to come out again. I nibbled on it. This person sure seemed to like talking…  
They sighed. “I’ll take that as a no. You must be really hot in there… probably better than the cold you were in yesterday.”  
Cold? Yesterday? All I remember is a bunch of white… and numbness… and orange… and that’s it. I wracked my brain, but I couldn’t remember anything else. Just white, orange, and numb. Nothing else… nothing before that except a deep pain in my soul. Eh, oh well.  
I flinched again as the person spoke again. “I guess I’ll just leave you alone then, ‘cause this conversation is going nowhere.” They chuckled. It was silent for a second before there was a little buzz type noise and then there were other noises, other voices. But there was no sound of any actual movement. I finished the yellow fluffy stuff after a minute and peaked through the little hole I’d been using. About a foot away was a skeleton in an orange hoodie and super light brown shorts with multiple pockets.

Papyrus POV

I saw the kid peeking out from the blankets shortly after they finished the omelet. I watched them out of the corner of my eye, pretending to watch whatever show was on the tv. Their eyelights were purple, and they were watching me. I waited.  
They slowly sat up, pulling the blankets with them. We probably weren’t going to get those back anytime soon… oh well, if the kid liked ‘em there’s not a problem. They scooted back a little, further into the corner of the couch. I turned my head to look at them, pretending to have just noticed them. “Oh, hello. Welcome to outside the blanket bunch.” I said with a smile and a small chuckle. Their eyes widened and started flaming a deep shade of purple magic. They curled farther into the blankets. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you.” I said, hoping to calm them down a bit. They glanced around the room before quickly looking back at me. I smiled. “I can leave if you want to take a look around. I promise I won’t attack you or anything.” They narrowed their eyes at me. I took that as a yes and slowly got up with the dishes, leaving the room.

???POV

The orange skeleton left the room with the two plates., slow and careful. I looked around from where I was sitting and jumped a little at the sound of voices and running water from the direction the orange one had gone in. Staring in that direction I waited for a minute. Nobody came out. The fire from my eyes died out. I hopped off the lumpy couch and started looking around the room.  
There was a sock that had a bunch of small pieces of paper on it near the entrance to the room from another room with a table and chairs. The voices came from further in, so I didn’t look farther that way. There was some trash under the couch, some cases that had colorful fronts and little discs inside were under the little table. The large device was hanging on the wall and had a little dresser type thing under it with more colorful cases, and some box shaped devices with remotes. They were all hooked up to the thing on the wall. The noise from earlier was coming from it, and there were colorful moving pictures on it. Weird… but cool I guess.  
Finished with my survey of this area, I went over to the stairs. I climbed up them, holding onto the railing as I did. I reached the top. There were more than 10 of them, and it was kinda steep. There were four doors down the hall, two on each side. One was covered in a bunch of yellow sticky paper stuff that has black lettering that said “WARNING” which didn’t make much sense. Was there something dangerous behind it? I didn’t hear anything behind it. But i didn’t go inside, in case whatever was being warned about was just sleeping.  
The room next to that one was locked, and the one across it was empty. The one next to that one, opposite the wall with the stairs but still a little ways away, had a high counter with a little bin and a faucet, and a big tub on the floor. There were little bottles with colorful slow-moving liquids in them. A few of them had pumps. I squirted one with red stuff in it out onto my hand and smelled it. It smelled sweet, like some type of fruit. I licked the stuff. It didn’t taste as good as it smelled. It tasted bitter and gross and EW. I gagged and coughed and wiped the stuff off of my hand and onto my already dirty clothing dress thing. I left that room shortly after, only having smelled some of the others. I walked back over to the stairs and looked down them. I couldn’t figure out how to go down them, coming up had been so easy, but the steps seemed so far away.  
I abandoned my efforts to go down the stairs when the orange skeleton came back from where he’d gone. I hugged the pole of the railing and watched him from behind it. He looked around the living room, seemingly confused. “Kid? Where’d you go?” I hid behind the pole thing more. He looked up at the ceiling, then under the couch and stout table. Each time, looking a bit more confused and slightly worried. “Huh, you’re pretty good at hiding kid, but you can come out y'know. I’m not gonna hurt you.” He said as he looked around the room and then a bit more.  
I shivered, my bones quietly rattling against each other against my will. He looked up towards where I was hiding and smiled. “Ah, there you are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rewritten and updated 7-24-17


	3. Roman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kid gets a name...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ey its a little early birthday present to myself :)  
> Hope you enjoy, sorry its short and tooks so long.

“Ah, there you are.”

My eyes widened, and I could feel them start to flame again as I stepped away from the railing pole.  
_Would I get in trouble for being up here? Was I not supposed to come up here? What was he going to do? _  
He took a step towards the stairs and I stumbled back towards the wall and curled in the corner.__

__Papyrus POV_ _

I stopped where I was when they stumbled to the wall. What was I supposed to do? I spooked them….  
“You okay babybones?” I said, and was met with the answer of rattling bones and whimpering. They were scared, and it was my fault. I sighed, “I… I don’t know how to explain to that I don’t want to hurt you.” I could kinda see their head, and the look of fear and their flaming eyesockets. I slowly raised my hands up, “Look, I don’t have any weapons.” They flinched back and curled in on themselves, arms covering their head. It was sad…. What could do this to them? A child should never be this scared. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to scare you.” I paused. “And I’m sorry for whoever did this to you. Whoever made you scared, whoever hurt you like when I’d found you. But now you’re here, and me and my bro wanna take care of you.” I smiled at the hunched up little figure that was them. “And if anyone hurts you, I’ll hurt them, ‘cause you’ve obviously been through enough.”  
The purple light of their magic died down to just a dim glow as I talked, but they didn’t move from their position. “If you want to, you can come down. I’m not gonna come get you unless you want me to. I’ll stay down here, and you can explore more if you want.” I turned away and sat down on the couch. I watched tv, but also kept an eye on the kid. 

It was a while before the kid moved from where they were and crawled closer to the railing of the banister and the wall close to my bedroom door. They curled up there and watched me. There eyelights fading from purple and into white. Eventually, I glanced back up at them and smiled. “Hey kid,” they stared. “Wanna meet my brother? He has to leave for work in a few minutes, and we don’t wanna spook you. He’s a skeleton like us.” They scooted closer to the wall, and pointed towards the living room. It was kinda vague, but the question was there. “Yea, he’ll come into the living room.” They pulled their arm back and nodded.  
I smiled and turned towards the dining room. “Hey bro, why don’t you come say hi to the kid before you leave.” There was a laugh as he came out of the kitchen and walked into the living room. 

???POV 

The person was indeed a skeleton, and they were small, and mainly dressed in blue armor looking things. He waved. “Hi! I’m Sans! What’s your name?” I blinked at him. Was I supposed to have a name? The only thing that really came to mind was a couple letters and numbers… but his name didn’t have that… so I guess it doesn’t count. I cocked my head and blinked at him. Sans mimicked me and cocked his head too. “Do you not have a name?” I blinked at him again, guess he really did wanna know. I held up my hands and made C2Q with them. He seemed confused. “Hmmm… that’s not really a name. I guess where you came from they didn’t give you one….” He paused before smiling. “We could come up with one for you. But we’d need to know if you’re a boy or girl. So we can pick one that fits.”  
I stared at him before looking down at the dirty green thing I was wearing. I looked back up and shrugged. He frowned, “Well I guess you’re wearing a dress. So we’ll just say you’re a girl till you tell us otherwise.” He turned back to the orange skeleton. The orange one was watching me calmly. “What type of name should we give her?” He asked. Sans shrugged. “Skeletons are usually named after fonts right? So probably some type of font….”  
Orange looked at me, thinking. “What about Roman? Like Times New Roman?” Sans looked back at me, smiling. “Yea… that fits. Do you like it?” He was talking to me…. I had a name now… wow… I had a name! I smiled and nodded. I wasn’t just a thing or a kid now! I had a name!  
Sans looked at the clock on his wrist. “Welp, I gotta go to work now!” He looked up at me and smiled before heading towards the door. “Bye Roman! Bye Papy!” Orange waved at him as the door closed behind him. So… the orange skeletons name was Papy? Or maybe that was just short for something… eh, doesn’t matter. Now I don’t have to call him a color.  
Papy was watching me again. He had a weird look on his face, like he was trying to remember something. He got up, and I moved to hide behind the wall, peeking around it. “I’ll be back in a minute Roman.” He said before he disappeared from his spot. Like he was erased from existence or something…. It was scary… there one second and gone the next…. 

Papyrus POV 

I blipped back into the living room from the attic with the box of me and Sans’ old childhood clothes. Roman was still hiding behind the wall. She was watching me with a look of curiosity. “Hey Roman. Wanna know what’s in the box?” I held the thing up a bit. She looked at it, then back at me and nodded. I opened the box and dumped its contents on the coffee table and started going through the clothes. She moved from behind the wall and sat behind the bars of the banister, watching as I went through the old clothes.  
After a while I found a pair of pants that were most likely to fit her, and a blue and purple striped sweater. I got up and walked to the bottom of the stairs. Roman got up and ran to hide behind the wall. I smiled reassuringly. “Hey, it’s okay. I just wanna give you some new clothes.” I held up the ones in the my hand. She looked at them and then rattled her bones. I chuckled and rattled mine to. She looked like a startled kitten when I did. I smiled and sat down on halfway up the stairs. “The ones you’re in don’t look very comfortable.” She frowned and looked down at her tattered sundress.  
I slowly went further up the stairs and held the clothes out. She looked up, then back into the hallway behind her before looking back at me and moving closer to the wall. “If you want, you can put them on yourself.” She stared at me for a second and nodded. I put the clothes on the top step and went back down the stairs a bit.  
She quickly came forward and grabbed the clothes and moved back to the hallway. She put the pants on first, then pulled the green dress off. Her ribs had scars that looked like they’d been clawed into the bone. I looked away and pretended I didn’t see as she pulled the sweater on and looked back at me. I smiled at her. “We can give you a bath later, wouldn’t want you to drown in there on your own.” I chuckled at her confused look. I wasn’t sure what she was confused about, but I guess I’ll find out later. “Do you wanna keep looking around up here, or do you want to come back down?” She shifted her from foot to foot and fidgeted with the hem of her shirt before pointing at the blanket pile on the couch and looking at me. “You wanna go back to the blankets? Okay, do you want me to bring them up here, or do you want to go back down?” She glanced around and gave a little half shrug.  
Almost immediately after the half-shrug, she flinched, ducked her head and squeezed her eyes shut like she was expecting to be hit. I sighed quietly. “I’m not gonna hurt you just because you shrugged. That’s pretty ridiculous,” I smiled at her. “I’ll bring the blankets up here for you, okay?” She peeked at me through one eye and hesitantly nodded. I went back down the stairs and picked up most the blankets, leaving some there for when she came back down, and went back up the stairs. Setting the blankets on the top step, I smiled at her before going back down stairs. “I’m gonna be down here if you need me.” I flopped onto the couch as she grabbed the blankets and dragged them back to where she’d been standing and buried herself in them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rewritten and updated 7-26-17


	4. Two weeks

Papyrus POV

I’d been sitting on the couch watching tv while the kid hid in the blankets upstairs when I realized how dehydrated the kid must be. She hadn’t drunk anything while she’d been here. I chuckled a bit to myself, looking up at the blanket pile. “Hey Roman, you thirsty?” I said, though I didn’t really expect an answer. I got up and went into the kitchen and grabbed one of my thermoses. She’s a little kid… and little kids get sippy cups. I snorted. We’d probably have to get her one of her own at some point, nut for now this would work. I left the kitchen, screwing the lid onto the now full thermos.  
Roman was peeking out from the blanket pile as I slowly went up the stairs. Her eyelights turned purple when I got close. I set the cup down outside of her blankets and then retreated back downstairs. I went back to watching tv, discreetly keeping an eye on the kid. She watched me for a time before reaching out and pulling the thermos into the mini collapsed blanket fort.  
It was a little while before I saw Roman peeking out from the blankets. I went back to watching tv as she watched me. She put the thermos on the outside of her blankets. Her eyelights were purple. Like she was afraid. Which she is. But maybe not as much as earlier? Maybe if I left, she would come out. It’d give her a chance to explore the place some more, get comfortable with her surroundings. Plus, we need groceries.  
I looked up at her and smiled. “I’m gonna go for a bit. You can explore the house if you want.” I got up and left out the front door. 

Roman POV

Papy closed the door behind him. The house was empty except for me now…. What should I do? My feet moved on their own and I began to explore the house more, looking in every nook and crany. There were crumbs on the floor at the base of the couch and in the space between the coffee table. Under the couch was dark and I couldn’t see anything. It was the same under the tv. Under the table next to the kitchen was pretty spacious and also had some crumbs and dirt.  
The kitchen was big, and clean, everything put away where it apparently went. I pulled open the doors of the fridge and looked inside. Many shelves had plastic containers of the tacos that Sans made. On the very top shelf of the door, was a red bottle. It intrigued me. Had Sans used it on his tacos? What did it taste like? Curious, I started trying to climb the door.  
I had many failed attempts, and got a little farther. Focused on my task, I didn’t hear the front door open until Papy was at the entrance of the kitchen. “Roman?” Shocked, my foot slipped off the shelf I was standing on. I fell to the ground, the elbow I’d been picking out as I wandered hit the ground first and the scab opened up. I rolled over and looked at him, my eyes purple. He looked confused, “What were you doing babybones?” I scrambled up and ran under the kitchen table. I was in trouble for getting into the fridge, wasn’t I? He knelt down to my level, looking under the table. He frowned as he looked at me. “Hey kid what’s wrong? Did I do something?” I stared at him, my eyelights purple.  
I looked at the still open fridge before quickly looking back at him. He turned around and looked at the fridge before getting up and closing it. He got down in front of the table again, “Y’know kid, it’s alright if you get into the fridge, you didn’t do anything wrong. This is your house too.” I stared at him as he smiled. He beckoned for me to come out. “C’mon, we can get you what you wanted after we put a bandaid on your arm.” I cocked my head at him. He stared at me for a second before sighing. “You don’t know what that is, do you?” I shook my head. He shook his head as he sighed. “Then come on out and I’ll show you.”  
I paused before crawling out and followed him to the bathroom. He pulled open a drawer and took out two paper thingys. He sat down on the floor in front of me and tore open one of them. Inside was a brown strip thing with more paper on the other side. He tore off the paper and showed me that side. “This is a bandaid. You put the white soft part in the middle on the bleeding part, and then you wrap it around and it sticks.” He demonstrated on his finger. It stuck there and kinda reminded me of the a blanket and how Sans wraps it around me. Papy held up the other bandaid he’d taken out and looked at me. “Now that you know what it is, can I put it on your elbow?” I looked down at my elbow, it wasn’t bleeding as much anymore but there was still a bit there. I looked back up at him. He had this lazy smile, the one he has all the time. I stared at him for a second before nodding. His smile grew a bit more, and he opened the bandaid and stuck it on my elbow.  
He stood up again. “Alright, let’s go figure out what you were trying to get from the fridge.” He left the bathroom and I followed him to the kitchen where he opened the fridge. I stared up at the spicy sauce bottle in the door. As he looked around before looking down at me. “Alright kiddo, what did you want.” I looked at him before looking back at the bottle and pointing at it. He looked at the door and chuckled. “The hot sauce kid?” I nodded. He smiled as he grabbed it and handed it to me. “Bro is gonna be upset with me.” I frowned at him as I opened the bottle. “I’m letting you drink an unhealthy condiment. He already has to deal with me drinking honey.” He chuckled again as I stared at him. I have no idea what he’s talking about. Is honey the stuff he drinks? Eh, whatever. We went to the living room and I crawled into the blanket nest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rewritten 9-21-17  
> sorry it's taking so long. i started my junior year of hs and have a shit ton of homework. Im trying to write in my off block.


	5. learning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> roman's learning stuff

Hot sauce is delicious. Blankets are warm. Naps are OK. Orange and blue are good colors (dare I say, safe?). Tacos are okay (especially drenched in hot sauce). Bandaids are sticky. The tv is a curious object with it’s flashing images. Food is good. Blood is not good. Green glowy tricks make it hurt less. Annoying dog like bones and sniffing my shirts. Something is supposed to happen Friday -- today?   
All these are things I’ve learned in the few days I’ve been here. Though it’s odd how blind they can sometimes be to the little things… they still don’t know why my knees and elbows keep bleeding. Which is good…? I guess… They’d probably be really mad if they found out how….  
The current little thing that I’m learning, is what a “bath” is. Sans looked surprised along with a mixture of horror at the fact that I didn’t know what one was nor did I know if I’d ever had one. Papy just started laughing, whether at me or Sans’ reaction, I don’t know. After Sans had gotten over his shock, he ordered Papy to give me one while he made dinner.  
So that’s where I am now, sitting on the bathroom counter watching as he turned on the water and started filling up the tub. He turned to me, “Hey kiddo, why don’t you come over and test the water?” I don’t know what he means by “test the water,” but he said “come over.” I slipped off the counter and walked over to where he was, looking up at him. He smiled, and stuck his hand under the thing that was letting the water fall. “Like this.” I copied him. The water was warm and flowy. I pulled my hand out and watched the droplets roll down my fingers. The bones themselves looked more white than a brownish gray. I frowned at the discoloration, and showed it to Papy. He smiled, “Yup. That’s the dirt and stuff that’s coming off.” He looked back at the tub and turned off the water. “Since you’re so dirty, I’m not gonna fill it up all the way.” He turned back towards me, “Alright babybones, put your arms in the air like this,” He stuck his arms in the air and I copied. He smiled and reached forward, grabbing the hem of my shirt and pulling it up and over my head and off my arms. The air was cold as it brushed against my bones, I wrapped my arms around my ribs. 

Papyrus POV

Roman wrapped her arms around herself, covering all the scars on her ribs. It was a sad sight, and I sighed. “Listen Roman, I’m not gonna hurt you, and neither is Sans.” She just stared at me and cocked her head. I’m starting to wonder if she only understands certain phrases, and movements. I started making a list in my head of every phrase she’d responded to without freaking out.   
Come  
Hot sauce  
She’d started responding more to babybones, kiddo, and Roman. Her reactions used to be delayed like she didn’t know if it was her the names were directed at.  
Blanket  
Food  
Be careful  
Fix   
That was pretty much it for the time being. I’d work on it more later, see if I can get her to talk, or at least be able to comprehend everything someone says.   
I helped her get out of her pants and picked her up, placing her in the bathtub. She stared at the water, picking some up and watching it slip through her fingers. I grabbed the soap and washrag. The soap smelled like apples and honey. Roman looked up at me as I took on of her hands and started washing her arm and hand. She sniffed the soap when it got to her shoulder. 

Even after just a little bit of time, it was hard to believe she hadn’t been somewhere bad. She looked so cute standing there while I was drying her off, staring at her own bones. But when the possibility that she’d never been this clean before, it was sad to realize she had been. But progress was being made. She didn’t flinch away from us as much, and let us help her with things. Though she didn’t allow hugs and such.  
I helped her into the pajamas Sans had brought in during her bath, fluffy pants and a long sleeved shirt with little stars on them. She marveled at those too, especially the fluffy pants. I opened the door and let her go first. She went out into the hallway and down the stairs. Sans came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands off, and smiled. “Awe, aren’t you adorable. Does it feel nice to be clean, Roman?” She looked up at him and cocked her head. I snorted. “She has no idea what you mean write now bro.” He rolled his eyes with a huff. “Then we have to work with her on that! She looks to be well beyond the age one starts speaking, so we must help her get there! Then she will know what we’re talking about.” He beamed at his own logic before looking back at her. “Do you want some food, babybones?” She blinked before walking past him and into the kitchen to where she sat. It was tacos like usual. I went downstairs and took my spot as Sans served the food. 

We were done eating and Sans was almost done with the dishes when there was a loud knock on the door. I’d convinced Roman to draw on a spare sheet of paper. She wasn’t as opposed to it anymore. She abandoned her task when the knock sounded, her head spinning around to stare at the door.   
Unfortunately, that knock could only belong to one person and that person isn’t a good idea right now. I answered the door as Sans came out from the kitchen. “Hey punks!” Alphys said in her usual boisterously loud voice. “You ready for anime night!?” I tried to silently tell her to keep her voice down, but she didn’t get the message as she walked in. “Who am I kidding!? Of course you two are!” Undyne followed in after her and I closed the door to keep the cold out. “Yea sorry guys but I don’t think we can do that. You see, something’s come up.” I turned around as Undyne turned away from me to greet Sans. Roman was hiding behind him. She stopped and stared at the small one before letting out a squeal. Alphys turned to look in the same direction, stopping herself. “HOLY ASGORE!” She shouted. “That’s another skeleton!” Undyne said excitedly. Roman ran into the kitchen at the loud voices.   
I sighed, “Yea… and she’s a bit flighty.” Undyne turned to me. “H-how? Wh-where did she come from?” I shrugged. “Good question. And from what we’ve seen it wasn’t some place good. Muffet called me and asked me to go find a ‘child lost in the storm.’ She was that child. She’s only been here a few days.” Alphys turned to me, “What do you mean, ‘from what we’ve seen’?” She asked. I sighed and began to tell her about Roman and how she’d been acting and reacting. We didn’t have a definite age, but from what Undyne gathered, she should be older than 4.  
Roman was still hiding in the kitchen. She occasionally peeked out, but hid behind the wall again when she was spotted. Alphys understood that she needed to keep her voice down for the kid, so she seemed a bit calmer. The two friends left shortly after. I got a leave from work, Sans wouldn’t take one. Undyne would come back at a later date to check out Roman’s skull and other possible injuries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's taking so long guys. schools tough. im trying to get back into writing my 3 fics. bear with me mates


	6. ouch

The days passed slowly since the other skeleton was gone most of the day. I didn’t have much to do except sit and watch tv. Though even that eventually got boring. I don’t really know what else to do though because everything still seems hostile, even the stuff that doesn’t move. The shadows always seemed kinda scary… like they were gonna reach out and pull me into the void or something.  
Sometimes I stare out the window and wait for them to come back, but then that becomes boring to since nothing outside ever changed. And nothing inside ever changed either. It was always silent unless the tv was on. Like right now, some show with a pink and gray robot was on. Same one as the other day by the sound of it. There’s not really any variation of what plays… lots of repeats. It was annoying.  
The anxiety and boredom always led to me picking at my joints until they bled. The other skeletons don’t ever notice. Papyrus is always being lazy and napping, but still watchful. He never actually caught me. While Sans is a busybody and out at work. Or at least, if they do notice, they chalk it up to me being a small child. I’m bored… and the shadows seem to be staring at me…. I started picking at my right knee joint again.

Couple hours passed and the joint was covered in blood. The front door handle rattled before the door itself opened, revealing a happy (as usual) Sans, and a tired (also like usual) looking Papyrus. They had a bunch of bags of food. Sans was prattling on about his day when he stopped, staring at my bloody knee as I stood in the entrance to the kitchen. He looked slightly horrified and sad. Papy noticed his brother’s sudden silence and followed his line of sight, also stopping at my knee. They both stood frozen in the doorway before a slight breeze came in. I shivered and curled into myself some, trying to not lose my precious warmth. The movement snapped them out of their trance. Both stepping further into the house, Papy shut the door as Sans rushed off upstairs somewhere. Papyrus looked strangely serious as he walked towards me. This was new, this wasn’t normal. I took a step back before my injured knee let out underneath me. It hurt when it hit the ground, and I whimpered. When Papyrus reached me, he picked me up, careful to not hurt the joint anymore. Bringing me over to the couch, he set me down again and Sans came back downstairs with the a first-aid kit. He looked really serious too as he started cleaning the blood covered joint. It was silent, save for the tv.  
The silence stretched on as Sans fixed my knee. Until he spoke up. “Why, Roman..? Why would you do this to yourself?” He sounded so sad as he looked up at me with an equally sad expression. I really don’t know ‘why’… it was just a habit. And all I could do was shrug as I looked down at my lap. Papyrus sat down next to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders as Sans finished bandaging my knee. He got up and left to put the medical kit away, and Papyrus pulled me into his lap and loosely wrapped a blanket around me.  
He sighed, “Please, don’t do that anymore… please, for you, and for Sans. He doesn’t like it when you hurt yourself, it makes him sad.” He sounded sad,but from the way he was talking, he probably wasn’t going to admit it. Understanding some of it, I nodded and burrowed a little more into the blanket. He nodded back, and held me. Sans came back with a bowl of popcorn and three cups of hot chocolate. Setting them down on the coffee table, he turned to the tv and started browsing through the movies that they had. Shortly after he put one in. He came over to the couch, spread the blankets from my nest out across the three of us, and cuddled into Papyrus’ side.

Sans POV  
That is how we spent the next few hours, watching a movie about a bunch of monsters that lived in a hotel on the surface, with a dude named Dracula and his daughter who he didn’t want to go out into the world and then a human showed up and he had to pretend to be one of the monsters while they celebrated Dracula’s daughter’s birthday. Papyrus fell asleep somewhere around where the human jumped into a pool of some jelly like monster flesh stuff.  
After the movie ended, I woke Papyrus up again and we both got up. Papyrus carefully picked up Roman, who was either asleep, or almost asleep. I turned off the tv as Papyrus headed upstairs to my room, and I quickly followed after putting the dishes in the sink. I got up there as Papyrus settled down with Roman, and I got in next to them. Cuddling up to them, Roman was in the middle between me and Papyrus.  
She’s been alone quite a bit the last week. I’ve been on patrol, and Papyrus has been talking to Undyne to see if she can help with Roman….  
Tomorrow I’m going to take the day off to spend time with Roman. Even if she doesn’t really want to do anything. It’ll be still nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay


	7. Relax

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The skeletons stay home today

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rewriting is officially over and I'm working on doing more chapters :P

Sans POV 

I woke up early the next morning like I usually do and started going about my daily routine. As I started putting on my armor, I stopped. I didn’t need to put it on… I’m staying home with babybones! Taking off the armor, I turned around and put on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. Leaving my room, I walked down the hall, pausing at the door. Should I wake them up? Shrugging, I continued on into the hall and downstairs. They could sleep a while longer. Going into the kitchen, I gathered up the ingredients I needed and started making breakfast.   
As I placed the second batch of honeycakes in the oven to keep warm, there was a thump from upstairs, probably Papy rolling out of bed. Hopefully, he didn’t take Roman with him. The poor babybones would be spooked beyond belief and probably wouldn’t leave the room. A little while later, the stairs creaked as he came down. I peeked out into the living as Papyrus placed a still sleeping Roman in her nest on the couch. I smiled as I slipped back into the kitchen. He came in and started setting the table as I got the plate of honeycakes and set them on the table. Grabbing the extra plate off the table, I piled a few of the pancake like cakes onto it, did the same with mine, then went out into the living room as Papy did the same with his.   
I climbed up onto the couch next to Roman and her nest. Papyrus came out with his bottle of honey, and the bottle of syrup that I forgot. I set the two plates of honeycakes on my lap, reached over, and gently shook the babybones awake. I took my hand away as she awoke with a small whine, and I smiled as she cautiously sat up and stared at us as Papy sat down beside me, having taken a little while to turn on the tv and put a movie in.   
Roman seemed to wake up a little more when the scent of the food hit her. She sniffed and looked around, kinda like she was checking for something. She looked back at me as I shifted the plate in my lap and picked one up. She stared at me skeptically, all that cautiousness that’d been missing from her last night, was back. I extended the honeycake towards her and she kinda leaned back away from the extended food, which was to be expected since it was new. Watching her, I picked one up from my plate and ate it. She seemed a little reassured by this, which we’d figured out about a week after her coming into our lives.   
When I was about half done with my first, Roman slowly reached out and swiped the honeycake from my hand and cautiously nibbled on it. It was almost comical how her eyes widened and looked at the food. She quickly ate the honeycake and looked a little sad when it was gone. I laughed as I slid the second plate over to her, a small puddle of maple syrup in the corner of the plate. I turned around and sat back against the couch and watched the movie… I don’t know what’s happening….   
Glancing out of the corner of my eye, I giggled. Roman was staring accusingly at the maple syrup as a small chunk of the honeycake sat in it. From here, it looked like her fingers were sticky, like she’d poked at the syrup (and knowing children, she probably did). She licked at her sticky fingers as she used her other hand to try and poke the chunk of cake out of the syrup. I watched her play and fight with her food (and she seemed to be having fun doing it) as I ate mine. 

A while passed before we were all finished and I took the plates into the kitchen and did the dishes. Out in the living room, the credits were rolling on the movie and Papy was having a one sided conversation with Roman about which one we should watch next. Finishing the dishes, I headed out into the living room and was a little surprised to find that Roman had moved off the couch and to the coffee table to watch Papyrus go through the movies as he showed her the covers of all the disks. Roman sat there, sticking and unsticking her fingers together as she watched. She probably needs a bath…  
I waited a few more minutes as Papyrus went through a few more movies. Making my presence known, I walked a little farther into the living room and said, “Hey Papy, why don’t you go give Roman a bath, and I’ll set up’n’stuff, yeah?” He looked up at me, then to Roman who was looking at me with a confused expression. Snorting, he nodded, “Sure bro.” He got up and walked the (extremely) short distance towards the confused babybones that looked a little spooked as he picked her up. She struggled a second before giving up and looking at me like a kicked puppy. They went upstairs as I went back into the kitchen to get the movie night (day) necessities.

Roman POV 

Papy carried me up the stairs and into his room. Once there, he set me down on his bed and walked over to an open box sitting on his dresser. I think that’s the one that has all the clothes that they keep putting me in, but I don’t know. My suspicions were confirmed when he turned around with a set of clothes and came back over to me. Once again picking me up, he left his room and turned down the hall towards the last door on the left.   
It’s so white and clean. The only things that weren’t white were the countertops, the rugs, and the curtain thingy on the far wall. That hadn’t been there last time. He set me and the clothes down on the counter before going over to the curtain thing and pulling it back. Behind the colored curtain was the tub. He turned a the knob and I flinched a little as water suddenly gushed from the faucet. He stuck his hand in the flow of water and kinda flicked it around. Seeming unsatisfied, he turned the knob a tiny bit more, and stuck his hand back under the waterfall. He flicked it around a little more before reaching into the tub and plugging it, the tub started to slowly. He stood up from his crouching position, walked past me and opened the cupboard next to my feet. He pulled out a large bottle of some green stuff and went back over to the tub to dump a little into the water. I felt my eyes widened in surprise as bubbles started forming and piling up in the tub. While I was focused on watching all the bubbles form, Papy had walked over to me, and was now taking off the things on my feet called socks. “C’mon, arms up Roman,” he said as he tossed the socks behind him and grabbed the hem of my shirt. Looking back at him, I complied and, just like every other time this happened, I wrapped my arms around my chest and curled into myself. I was covered in an array of scars. They were all various sizes and shapes, but… I don’t know how I got them, or why. They’re disgusting, and ugly….   
A sad expression came across Papy’s face, like it usually does with both of the skeletons, and he sighed. I knew what I was supposed to do as he turned and walked back over to the tub. I hopped off the counter and slipped the black shorts that I was wearing off as he turned off the faucet and the water stopped falling into the over half filled tub. He flicked the water in the tub around a bit before he turned to me and beckoned me over. I stood there for a second before slowly walking over. Papy picked me up and set me in the bubbles. It was warm, and the bubbles were poofy and stuck to me. I sat down as Papyrus grabbed a bottle from a shelf and set it beside him as he sat on the floor. I glanced at him as I messed with the bubbles… he was watching me… He was smiling too. I looked back down at the bubbles and watched as they slowly popped, and little rays of color ran across their shiny surfaces. Watching them, I started playing with them. 

A while passed before he put a bunch of soap on my head and started cleaning me. I stayed still until he took his hands away, and then I splashed him with bubbly water. He looked so surprised and it made me giggle. He chuckled and put soap on my arms. “Do you like the water, Roman?” I stared down at the stuff around me, then back up at him and nodded.  
When I was clean, he took me out of the tub and wrapped me in a fluffy towel as he unplugged the drain. He turned back to me as the water disappeared from the tub, and he started playfully running the towel over me. It soaked up all the water that was still on my bones, so it was a bigger version of those hand towel things Sans has ‘strategically’ placed around the kitchen. When he was done drying me off, he helped me into the new clothes he’d gotten earlier, and rebandaged my knee. The new shirt was now a dark green with light blue stripes, and the shorts were like the other ones, short and black.   
Once he was done, he opened the door and went out into the hallway. I followed him and was assaulted by the smell of butter and salt. What in the world? New food or something? I don’t know. I followed Papy to the stairs and looked after him as he went down. He continued into the living room, starting a conversation with his brother. Curious more about the smell than anything else, I grabbed the bars under the railing, and started my descent down the stairs.   
It was slow, but I eventually got down there. The skeleton brothers were in the living room arguing over which movie to watch first. There was also a large bowl of white goldish stuff on the coffee table, along with some other things I can’t place because they’re in a plastic bag. Creeping around the arguing skeletons, I looked at some of the movies before grabbing one that had a cover case with a small robot surrounded by trash on the front, and the word Wall-e written across the top. Turning around I walked up next to them and kinda waved it at them. Papy was the first to notice since it was more in his line of sight, and he stopped talking, and Sans kept talking for a second before noticing his brother’s attention had been averted from the topic. They both looked down at me and I kinda hid behind the case. “That's… actually a good choice Roman,” Papy said. Sans nodded his agreement as he took the case from my hands and I retreated to my blanket nest. I hid in my blanket nest as the two skeletons got everything set up. The movie started and I was given a bowl of this ‘popcorn’ stuff that had a lot of butter on it. 

And that’s how the rest of the day went. We watched movies, and ate various foods, and kinda started some board games but whatever.   
At the end of the day, we all pretty much just went to bed… even though I didn’t really want to…


	8. What's scary about staring at darkness, is when it stares back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> no sleep for the tiny skele at night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY LOOK THERE'S AN UPDATE

I couldn’t sleep. I tried but that had only lasted for a little bit before I woke up from a nightmare. It hadn’t been intense like it was the other day. I didn’t want to sleep.  
So I didn’t. I sat there in the blankets and did nothing.  
The shadows seemed to warp and whisper, seemed to creep closer. I pulled the blankets closer and stared at the darkest: the corner. I don’t know if it was just my imagination, or if it was real but I could have sworn I saw something. A face. I don’t know. The room seemed to darken, seemed to close in on me. I could feel the magic surge into my eye sockets. The room didn’t seem to even slightly be illuminated by it. My ears started ringing. I didn’t move. Something was there, I knew there was. Something with bad motives. I felt like I knew it though, the foreboding darkness was familiar. It made my skull hurt. I stared at the corner, unmoving and eye sockets flickering with agitated magic.  
What’s scary about staring at darkness, is when it stares back.  
My knees itched beneath the bandages.

Sans POV

I woke up early as I always do and started getting ready for the morning. I showered, got dressed and put on my battle body. After making sure my room was clean and my bed was made, I left my room to go downstairs and make breakfast.  
What I wasn’t expecting was for Roman to be awake. The living room illuminated in a dark purple glow.  
She was staring at the corner and didn’t look away even as I flicked on the light. Her knees and elbows were bloody, the bandages that had been on them the night before hung on the joints in bloody shreds. I came around the couch, she didn’t look towards me. Odd. Normally she‘d jump and stare at me. Purple tracks stained her face, and her eyes flamed with agitated magic. She was scared of something I couldn’t see.  
I sat on the couch next to her, pulled off my gloves and slowly reached over, watching her face for any sign the she knows what’s happening. I gently grabbed her hands and pulled them off of her knees, where she’d still been picking. Her blood was warm and sticky on my hands. Contact was what made her react. She spun to the side to look at me and pulled her hands out of mine. Her eyes flickered and the pseudo flame dissipated. She stared at me, and I held my hands out towards her. She stared at them, then looked at her own. She got distracted by the blood on her hands, and it took her a moment to remember I was there. She looked at my hands before looking down at her own, and back up again.

It took a little while, maybe a few minutes that felt like hours, before she hesitantly reached forward, setting her hands in mine. They were smaller than mine, and dull from picking at her own bones. I wrapped my hands around hers for a couple minutes before letting go of one, and gently tugging on the one I was still holding. She got the message rather quickly, surprisingly. She crawled over, and I wrapped my other hand around her and pulled her into my lap. She looked back at the corner.   
“Hey,” I said quietly, enough to get her attention as I leaned back into the couch. Her pupils were dim and fuzzy. She was tired. “There is nothing there, okay? Nothing is going to come out and hurt you. We would not let that happen.” She stared at me for a moment before glancing back at the corner. I cradled her in my lap and started to rock side to side very gently. She looked at me for a minute and her eyes started to droop. She wrapped her arms around herself in a hug type of way, and turned her head into my shoulder. She was asleep in seconds.  
Now… I have to wait for Papy to get up, there’s no way I’m getting up with her being asleep like this.

Papyrus POV

I feel like I woke up late, or slept through Sans trying to get me up. The house was silent which was odd if Sans was home. Even with him adapting to how Roman reacts to his noise, it’s still fairly easy to hear him if he was home. If Roman was still downstairs, I should get up. Who am I kidding? Of course she’s still here. She’s not ready to go outside yet. I got up and grabbed my hoodie off the floor and pulled it on. I left the room and went to the stairs.  
The living room light was on and Sans was on the couch. Roman was in his lap, and asleep? That’s new.  
“Hey bro, need some help?” I asked, he probably hasn’t made breakfast yet if he’s stuck there. He looked up the stairs at me. “Heh, yea, I don’t have the heart to move when she hasn’t slept all night.” I nodded and went downstairs to the couch. He shifted his arms around the sleeping bonechild and I picked her up out of his lap. She almost seemed to wake up, but she didn’t thankfully. Sans got up, and I sat down in his spot and set the child in my lap after grabbing one of her blankets and setting it in my lap. Bro hurried off and came back with the first aid kit, and he quickly rebandaged her knees and elbows before hurrying to the kitchen to start cooking. The sound of pots and pans soon echoed from the kitchen. I wrapped Roman in the blanket I’d grabbed. She was starting to drool, how cute. I turned the tv on and sat there with it on low before a question crossed my mind.  
How much did this kid know? If she’s roughly 4, then she would be around kindergarten, but what if she was ahead of the game? It’s completely possible since we have nothing on where she could have come from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry updates are slow :P i've been staying up late to write my other fic Guns and Ammo, and i dont have my computer in my room, only my ipod so, yea, updates are gonna be a bit slow. i havent forgotten about this!!!! i swear!!!!!


	9. Creative title

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> little roman decides to grab a book out of boredom :P

Papy was asleep on the couch, and Sans was in the kitchen. I was bored. Today has been full of a lot of nothing. I want to do something. The carpet was soft beneath my feet, and the wood cold when I stepped onto the stairs. They creaked a bit and I stopped, looking back at the sleeping skeleton on the couch. He didn’t move, and the skeleton in the kitchen didn’t seem to notice it either. I continued up the stairs and stood at the top for a minute. I have no idea what I had planned to do when I got up here. Slide down the stairs? No, that’d hurt my tailbone. I wandered up and down the hallway for a few minutes before going into Papy’s room. It was dirty, like it usually was. There was more stuff in the tornado in the corner. Lots of the clothes they’d been putting me in were on the floor too.  
I went to the big bookcase in the corner and looked and at all the books on them. I’d seen Papy reading them, and there were a few he read to Sans before bed. Lots of them were super thick and wouldn’t fit in my tiny hands, but there a few that would, closer to where I could reach them. I scratched the crack on my head as I looked at all of them. Would I get in trouble for taking one? Probably not since it was Papy’s and he doesn’t really mind anything I do. There was one book, and I had to turn my head sideways so that I could see the title. It had to do with stars, the title was a bit complicated and I couldn’t put the words together in my head. It was one of the thin ones and I grabbed it off the shelf. The cover was shiny and had a bunch of white dots on it. I went and sat in the corner with the book in my lap, and opened it. 

Maybe I shouldn’t have grabbed this one. It had a lot of big words I couldn’t mentally say. But it had lots of pretty pictures of what were probably ‘stars.’

Sans POV

I came out of the kitchen with a plate of tacos for the babybones… except that she wasn’t there. “Uhhhh… Roman? Babybones where’d you go?” I asked cautiously. She was probably hiding somewhere. There was no sound of rattling bones that usually came with her trying to tell us where she was. The plate was set on the coffee table as I roughly shook Papyrus awake. “Huh? What’s up bro?”  
“I don’t know where Roman is!” I said, trying not to panic. What if she’d gotten out? Undyne said she wasn’t ready for that! Papy sat up and stretched. “Where all did you look?”  
“I didn’t! She didn’t do her little rattle thing when I called out for her….”  
“Well, did you check upstairs?”  
“No….” I looked up at the balcony. She usually doesn’t go up there alone, so why would she now?  
“Well then, you make sure the food doesn’t get cold, I’ll go find the kid.” He got up as I nodded, and went up stairs.

Papyrus POV

I peeked into the bathroom and Sans’ room before looking into my own, just to make sure she wasn’t there although I was pretty positive she wouldn’t be. She was sitting in the corner with the book I’d found at the dump a few weeks ago; _Stars of the Southern Skies _. I opened the door some more, and leaned against the door jamb as she turned the page. She scratched her skull, along the rift, and frowned at the page. It was so cute, I couldn’t help chuckling. She jerked her head up and looked at me. “Something confusing kid?” I smiled. She looked down at the book, and closed it. She got up with the book in her hands. “Sans says the food is done if you’d rather do that than try and convey what you’re confused about.” She stood there for a moment before cocking her head.  
New thing: no long sentences with adult words.  
“Hungry?” I asked with a snort. She nodded and came closer, then she stopped. “Something wrong Roman?” She turned to the bookshelf and looked it up and down, like she was trying to find something. Then she turned to me and held up the book. “Eh,” I waved it off. “Bring it with you.” She looked at the book and then back up at me. I shook my head with a chuckle and waved her over. She came over and stood about two feet away, her usual distance when she’s unsure of something it seems. She looked at the book, and then back up at me, I took it from her nodded my head towards the stairs. “Food is downstairs kiddo.”  
She walked out of my room and headed to the stairs, she looked back at me. “Go on kid. I’ll be down in a minute.” She blinked at me before going down the stairs. I looked down at the book and opened it. There were a lot of pictures, but just as much text. Weird little kid. I made a mental note about the book and set it on my desk. I followed the kid downstairs.__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh


	10. its a box

I stared at the book that was on the table. Papy had been reading it before he and Sans had left for work. From the couch, it looked like it had a lot of pictures in it. I would go get it, but it looks really heavy. Sans would get sad if I hurt myself, and Papy would get a weird look on his face. It always happened whenever I scratched. They always had the same reaction every time. It made me feel bad and weird. If I scratched, I had to hide it so that they wouldn’t give me those looks. Hiding it is different from rebinding it. Which is kind of a problem. Kind of a big one sometimes. Like maybe right now if I didn’t feel so OK.   
The book on the table had a really pretty cover with fancy words on it. They were super curly and spiraly, I couldn’t read them. I sighed and climbed out of Papy’s chair and wandered around the house. I didn’t want to go upstairs and find one of the smaller books I could carry. I would… if I could reach the switch thing that turns the lights on.  
I wandered over to the corner of the living room behind the door and crouched down. There was a little spider sitting there with a sheet of paper and a small “O” shaped thing. He’s been showing up a lot lately with the O shaped things and papers. All the papers had writing on them that looked like the way I wrote whenever Papy tried to teach me. Today’s sheet of paper read “sAduWs paY nise Tooday.” I cocked my head at the paper and sat down against the wall as the spider gave me the O shaped food. I nibbled on the food, it tasted like chocolate. The room in front of me was lit fairly well, and the only shadows were behind things like the couch and the tv. None of them looked angry or mean and scary. I smiled and giggled. The sound echoed slightly. Papy would have said something about how it sounded, like he did when I tapped on the outside of one of those cans. Like it was “hollow.” It did sound a bit hollow, though I don’t really know what that meant.  
I pat the spiders head, and it crawled into a hole in the floor. I got up and walked back over to the couch. The shadows didn’t move to follow me. I climbed onto the couch and kicked my feet off the part under the cushions. Nothing was mean and scary. Shadows are playing nice today.   
I sat there for a little while longer before getting up and going to the bottom of the stairs. I need to go up, I gotta put the paper with the others. The shadows looked a bit scarier up there. They didn’t seem to be watching me though. I held the paper up at them. Shadows play nice today. That is the rule. I clenched my hand around the paper and climbed up the stairs.  
1  
2  
3  
4

Creaky steps. They didn’t scare me anymore. They creaked no matter who walked on them.  
6+2  
6+3  
6+4  
6+5  
Tip top. I can count to six… but there’s more than 6 steps.  
I ran down the hallway to Papy’s room and pushed the door open. Inside, the room was messy and the trash spiny thing was still going. I went over to his desk and pulled a piece of tape of the roll, then I got down and went over to my box. It was my box because I sat in it and didn’t get out. So whenever I get something, or need to put something somewhere, I had the box.   
I looked inside the box and taped the paper to the side. Besides all the taped papers, there were two other things in the box. I hadn’t put them in there. There was hot sauce, and a blank covered book. The hot sauce was probably from Papy since Sans doesn’t like giving it to me. He says it’s “unhealthy.” What’s that even mean?  
I took the two items and fled the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think it's adorbale that she has a box now


End file.
